Integracolor Group--Growing a Bountiful Business

"Asleep" isn't the typical description of a 42-year-old, $50 million printing operation. But that's how Larry C. King, president and COO of the IntegraColor Group (formerly Horticultural Printers), fondly described his business...until two years ago, that is.

"We've been referred to as a sleeping giant—but we're not sleeping anymore," says King, comparing the company's steady growth over the past decade (from $15 million in 1988 to $30 million in 1996) to its explosive 57-percent growth over the past two years.

IntegraColor's self-imposed wake-up call came in the form of a "dedicated decision," which was made by the company's management team to expand business at a rate of 16 percent per year beginning in 1996.

The success of meeting—and greatly exceeding—that goal was the jolt IntegraColor needed. Robert Grooms, IntegraColor's vice president of sales, projects that 1999 sales could grow more than 30 percent, adding another $15 million in revenues by the turn of the century.

In the race to grow its business, IntegraColor is setting its own pace with each step it takes. The first step was to update its image in a way that would reflect "the progressive, innovative and high-tech company we are today," says King.

So after 42 years, the company changed its beloved name. In June, Horticultural Printers (HPI) was "recommissioned" the IntegraColor Group.

"One of the ways we decided to grow the business was by growing beyond the HPI name," notes King, emphasizing that the company still uses the name, which is retained as a division under the IntegraColor Group banner. "We believed we had grown on our name as much as we could, and we wanted to dispell the stigma that horticultural printing is all we do. Our other services—commercial printing, Christian schoolbook publishing and point-of-